Stephen Tuttle | Author

Oct. 24, 2020

Every presidential candidate makes plenty of promises. Most are fantasy or folly — that pesky Congress often intrudes — some are absurd, and some can actually be accomplished. 

During the 2016 campaign, according to an Associated Press count, candidate Donald Trump … Read More >>

Patience Required

Oct. 17, 2020

It's going to be a very long election night. Voter fraud will have nothing to do with it.

Every state has some form of early, mail-in voting this year, and only Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Indiana still require a reason to request a mail-in ballot. The other 45 sta… Read More >>

Made Things Worse

Oct. 10, 2020

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4–3 decision supported by the four Republicans on the Court, with dissenting opinions from the three Democrats, has ruled Governor Gretchen Whitmer does not have the authority to continue issuing emergency orders under the Emergency Powers of Governor … Read More >>

Spinning out of Control

Oct. 3, 2020

He said scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were wrong when they first issued their mask recommendations. He resisted and contradicted their suggestion that businesses and schools should close. He denied that there were shortages of personal protective equipme… Read More >>

Warts And All

Sept. 26, 2020

Project 1619, a product of New York Times Magazine writers, is a potential public school curriculum that attempts to redefine early U.S. history by making the assertion that slavery and Black Americans were the keystone to our creation and development. 

It posits our country's … Read More >>

Unlocking Trouble

Sept. 19, 2020

Unlock Michigan is likely to unlock trouble. It's awash with potential for unintended consequences. 

The idea is that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has far exceeded what should be her authority, using a 1945 emergency powers law to unilaterally make decisions during the Co… Read More >>

Serving No Cause

Sept. 12, 2020

On May 25, George Floyd died in Minneapolis with a police officer's knee on his neck. The protests have not stopped since.

Additional violent interactions between police officers and African Americans, some obviously justified and others questionable, have kept the unrest roiling. T… Read More >>

In Sickness and in Heat

Sept. 5, 2020

So, now it's “herd immunity.” That seems to be the latest Trump Administration COVID-19 strategy. At least the steps they're now taking are pushing in that direction.

Their reluctance to recommend masks and social distancing, their insistence on in-person teaching for sc… Read More >>

Do Sports Bring Us Together?

Aug. 29, 2020

We are told sports are a kind of societal glue, a unifying and uplifting communal necessity, especially during challenging times.

It's more likely sports are an ephemeral distraction — valuable but not critical. That's especially true at the professional and top college levels… Read More >>

A Counterfeit Issue

Aug. 22, 2020

In 2016, the problem was all those illegal immigrants voting, remember? Millions and millions of them we were told. To be fair, the voter fraud commission that President Trump launched did find one green-card holder who had tried to vote. And on average, each year, there are about 20 prosec… Read More >>

A Racist and A Park

Aug. 15, 2020

Former Leelanau County Road Commissioner Tom Eckerle recently explained he wouldn't wear a mask because “this whole thing is because of those n****** down in Detroit.”

Well now.

Undeterred, he pushed all-in, repeatedly using the vilest of racial epithets in… Read More >>

Emerging Truths

Aug. 8, 2020

It's been nearly seven months of COVID-19, and we're still struggling just to slow it down. It has disrupted lives, destroyed businesses and the jobs that went with them, putting 40 million Americans out of work. Children have been out of class for more than twice as long as a normal summer… Read More >>

Debunking Defunding

Aug. 1, 2020

“Defunding” the police means different things to different groups. For some, it is synonymous with reforming the police. For others it means a diversion of some funding, now used by law enforcement, for social and mental health workers. Still others hope for a Utopian future in … Read More >>

The Parties Are No Party

July 25, 2020

The Republican Party was born on March 20, 1854, in Ripon, Wisconsin. Their first presidential candidate was John C. Fremont, the first Republican elected president was Abraham Lincoln. Democrats got their start earlier, forming officially in 1828. Andrew Jackson was their first presidentia… Read More >>

A Health Experiment

July 18, 2020

There is near unanimity regarding getting kids back to school. We all know it's important on multiple levels. 

We know in-person classrooms with on-the-spot individualized instruction is most effective. We know some children, especially those left out of the digi… Read More >>

QAnonsense

July 11, 2020

There is an ongoing conspiracy. Not just any conspiracy but one writ large in capital letters followed by exclamation points.

It seems several hundred, or thousand, government employees — members of the so-called deep state—  are involved in a plot to… Read More >>

Endangering Us is Not a Right

July 4, 2020

We know a little but still don't know much. 

We know, for example, our refusal to social distance or wear a mask in public spaces makes the spread worse. We know the states that refused to mandate those simple actions are now epicenters of surging infections.

Chickens Not Yet Hatched

June 27, 2020

They should just slow down and take a breath. 

The Biden fans and the anti-Trumpers — they aren't necessarily the same — are all atwitter lately over President Trump's stumbling presidency. They see November hope everywhere, even believing the president's halting wa… Read More >>

A Repugnant Cause

June 20, 2020

It was a flag of treason waved by traitors. It's hard to see it any other way.  

The Confederate battle flag is an endangered species headed for public extinction. The Navy, Marines, and even NASCAR have already banned its public display. Others will soon follow.